The invention relates to the field of sports that involve sliding along snow, and more particularly to the sport of snowboarding. It relates more specifically to the bindings intended to be mounted on snowboards, the design of which makes them particularly ergonomic.
Numerous types of board binding exist, each type being more particularly suited to a particular style of snowboarding.
Thus, as far as xe2x80x9cartisticxe2x80x9d snowboarding is concerned, this being the style more commonly known by the name xe2x80x9cfreestylexe2x80x9d, use is made of relatively flexible boots allowing the user great freedom of movement, and allowing the shinbone to be steeply angled with respect to the foot. Its qualities are particularly appreciated when riding on semicylindrical tracks most commonly known by the name of xe2x80x9chalfpipesxe2x80x9d.
Thanks to the flexibility of his boots, the rider can adopt particularly inclined positions with respect to the board.
The relative flexibility of the boots also allows a good feel through the board.
The use of such flexible boots entails the use of bindings which have a certain rigidity, particularly in order to resist backthrust.
Thus, such bindings have a baseplate for mounting on the board, and a rear cup forming a highback intended to take the back of the upper of the user""s boot. A highback such as this may extend as high as mid-way up the calf.
For bulk reasons, most bindings of this type have a highback which is mounted so that it is articulated with respect to the baseplate, which allows it to be folded down towards the board for transport.
German Patent DE-U-91 13766.7 describes a binding such as this. This binding is equipped with two symmetric stops arranged on the highback and intended to limit the backward inclination of the highback. These stops are adjustable for position in order to adapt the rearmost position of the highback to the user""s desires.
It will be appreciated that the vertical position of the highback is not the optimal position for reacting thrust when the leg is slightly inclined with respect to a position perpendicular to the board.
This is a particularly sensitive issue in the so-called xe2x80x9cartisticxe2x80x9d form of riding in which the rider, in certain phases, adopts a position which is very offset from the normal position.
One problem that the invention sets out to solve is that of the rigidity of the binding and its incompatibility with the need to optimize the inclination of the legs with respect to the board.
The invention therefore relates to a board binding comprising:
a baseplate which has an underside intended to be secured to the board;
a highback intended to take the back of the user""s boot, the said highback having a mid-plane.
This binding is characterized in that it comprises means capable of adjusting the inclination of the mid-plane of the highback with respect to the underside of the baseplate.
In other words, the highback of this binding is orientable laterally so as to adjust the inclination of the leg with respect to the board, according to the movement commonly known in snowboarding as xe2x80x9ccantingxe2x80x9d.
Thus, unlike conventional bindings in which the plane of symmetry of the highback, which includes the axis of the leg, is perpendicular to the baseplate and therefore to the board, the bindings according to the invention allow the highback, and therefore the leg, to move away from the perpendicular, which proves to be particularly ergonomic, particularly in certain forms of xe2x80x9cfreestylexe2x80x9d.
Thus, by virtue of this arrangement, the position of the leg is optimal for the rider, who can enjoy the rigidity of the highback of the binding to react to backthrust in particular.
The invention covers all kinds of binding designs and, for example, those in which the highback is mounted rigidly with respect to the baseplate, or alternatively still, and as a preference, those in which the highback has the ability to pivot with respect to the baseplate, at right angles to its mid-plane of symmetry.
Specifically, for bulk reasons, it is preferable that the highback be mobile, and be able to be folded down onto the baseplate when there is no boot in the binding.
In this particular instance, the means capable of adjusting the inclination of the highback with respect to the baseplate consist of a number of positions of the axis of pivoting of the highback with respect to the baseplate.
This is because by allowing this axis to adopt a number of positions, and more precisely by allowing it to be inclined with respect to the plane of the board, the plane of symmetry is allowed to adopt a number of orientations moving away from the perpendicular to the board.
In a first embodiment, the baseplate has a number of housings capable of taking fingers mounted on the highback, the said fingers acting as axis of pivoting for the highback with respect to the baseplate.
A series of housings may be formed either on just one side of the baseplate or on both sides, so as to allow inclinations on each side of the vertical. These housings may be arranged vertically, one above the next, or alternatively along a line slightly inclined with respect to the vertical.
In another embodiment, the binding comprises a linking piece collaborating with the baseplate and the highback. This linking piece is mounted with the ability to pivot with respect to the baseplate about a first axis. This linking piece is also capable of adopting, with respect to the highback, a number of positions which are derived from one another by pivoting about a second axis, the first and second axes of pivoting being spatially offset.
In other words, the binding includes an element capable of pivoting both with respect to the baseplate and with respect to the highback, this element forming an eccentric so that its pivoting with respect to the highback offsets the position of the axis of pivoting of the highback with respect to the baseplate, thereby altering the inclination of the axis of pivoting of the highback.
The binding may comprise just one eccentric element located on one side of the binding or may alternatively comprise two eccentric elements collaborating with the baseplate and the highback on each side of the binding, so as to allow the inclination of the plane of symmetry of the highback to be adjusted to each side of the perpendicular to the board.
This linking piece forming an eccentric may be located either on the outside of the baseplate or on the inside face of the highback, or alternatively may be located between the highback and the baseplate.
In practice, the linking piece has a raised zone capable of fitting into a complementary housing belonging to the highback.
Thus, depending on the position of this raised zone in the housing in the highback, the position of the axis of pivoting of the eccentric with respect to the baseplate is modified. The pivoting of the eccentric inside the housing in the highback may be continuous, or in discreet steps.
In this case, the raised zone may comprise a number of identical lobes, distributed about this periphery, the housing in the highback then having a number of recessed zones of a profile that complements these lobes.
The number of lobes determines the number of positions that the eccentric can adopt with respect to the highback, and therefore the accuracy of the canting adjustment.
Advantageously in practice, the linking piece may be secured to the highback either by screwing means or alternatively in a temporary fashion by a cam mechanism actuated by a retractable lever allowing the inclination to be altered without disassembly and without the use of a special tool.